It usually happens really abruptly and, unless I get into the (increasingly crowded and elite) highscore table, I'm left me with no record of the career I've just had.

I thought a dedicated pilot career logbook would make an interesting addition. Something that we could access at any time during a game, and also access from the roll of honour. It would make comparing your current commander to previous greats much easier.

It could list things like:

Tallys of kills of each type of ship

Total number (and types) of missiles fired

A running total of your missile hit percentage rate (also listed by type of missile)

Friendly fire kills (and perhaps record hits on your own ships that don't result in their destruction).

Running tally of mission success/failure

Total ships you've ejected from, and their type (probably loads of early ones that blow up way too easy)

Number of times you hyperspace out of a battle

It could also hold data on more obscure statistics like how many escape pods you have destroyed (I make a point of blowing up the pod of any ship that has really ticked me off - never civillians of course, I'm not a total monster!)

Is anyone else interested in this kind of data breakdown, or is it just me?

OK, who said 'sad loser?!?'

The one thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...

Are you using custom ships? Try designing ships with different play styles, so you can figure out which one suits you best. Also, like they say, practice really does make perfect (or at least better). At first I would always die on mission 1 or 2 (I remember when I used to say "Mission 6! Sweet this guy is rocking!!!"). I had to play many many games before I could get that commander. Also, luck does play a certain factor; I haven't been able to top or even approach that commander's goodness. My guys keep dying at about mission 10-20. Somewhere around there. That doesn't even get them on the Roll of Honour.

I've now got to exceede 3 Gold Crosses just to make the Roll of Honour, and the top three scorers all have 8+ Gold Crosses...

An 'interesting' aside:

Since I got CM4 I started each new commander with an individual number so I know how many games I've played and can see how I'm progressing.

My top scorer is Caveman144, my bottom is Caveman193 and I've just started Caveman224.

My top score was achieved using stock standard ships only, with a falcon or eagle (where available) as my lead ship, changing to a super watcher for the 'seek and destroy' missions. I've recently started building custom ships which allow me to progress through the earlier levels faster but perhaps overconfidence gets me killed with unexplored territory in sight...

I've not yet exceeded 60 missions, and I find the game suddenly gets WAY hard in the middle fifties - and to add to the psychological pressure, someone in one of these forums has mentioned that, atually, mission 70 is the hump!!

The one thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...

Though it would mean whenever i blow up a wingmate accidentally it would be a permanent scar on my pilots record!

Actually, thats what I had in mind! We're always looking for ways to improve the value of our wingmen!

I'd be fascinated to see the results of a long (50+missions) career - how many friendly ships you'd destroyed (and the ratio of ememy to friendly!), and (this might be even more interesting!) how many friendlies you'd inadvertently hit . Remember letting off that savo near the friendly base you were supposed to be protecting? Guess who those missiles locked onto after you'd missed your target - slow moving/static friendlies, thats who!!

The one thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...

I can?t bring myself to kill any of my wingmen, not even the one who emptied 4 plectrons into my back at point blank range! I imagine he was court marshalled and executed in a grisly yet strangely hilarious way.

I don't usually kill my wingmates because it lowers my medal. Also, it was probably just an accident or stupidity on their part. The only thing I really hate is when I pump like 7 Plectrons into a Warrior and along comes my "friend" to steal the kill. That's when I destroy him.